Nofollow
Nofollow is a rel attribute that you can add to a hyperlink to tell search engines not to pass link equity (also known as link juice) to the linked page. This means the link won’t influence the target page’s rankings in search engine results.
Originally introduced by Google in 2005 to combat spammy links (especially in blog comments), the rel="nofollow" tag has become a key SEO tool for controlling how links are treated in both internal and external linking strategies.
Why use nofollow links?
There are several reasons to use nofollow links:
- To avoid endorsing low-quality or untrusted sites
- When linking to user-generated content (like blog comments or forums)
- For paid links or sponsorships (per Google’s guidelines)
- To reduce the risk of penalties from manipulative linking practices
- When you want to reference a source without passing SEO value
HTML example of a nofollow link
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">External Link</a>
This tells search engines to crawl the link but not pass any ranking value to the destination page.
Dofollow vs. Nofollow
| Attribute | Passes Link Equity? | Affects SEO of Linked Page? | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
dofollow (default) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Linking to relevant, trusted content |
nofollow | ❌ No | ❌ No | Sponsored content, untrusted sources |
Note: You don’t need to specify dofollow — it’s the default behavior for standard <a> links.
When to use nofollow
- Affiliate links and sponsorships (or use
rel="sponsored") - Comments and forums (or use
rel="ugc"for user-generated content) - Links you don’t fully endorse or trust
- Widgets or embedded content from third-party services
- Any link where you want to avoid passing SEO value
Best practices for nofollow links
- Be selective — not all outbound links need to be nofollowed
- Use
rel="nofollow"when required by Google’s policies (especially with paid content) - Combine with
rel="sponsored"orrel="ugc"where appropriate - Don't overuse — natural linking is still important for SEO
In summary, nofollow is an HTML attribute that tells search engines not to pass SEO value to a linked page. It’s useful for managing risk, following Google’s guidelines, and staying in control of how your site’s links affect others in the SEO ecosystem.